I'll See You In Twenty Eight Years
by miley-avril
Summary: After deciding that Snow will go through the wardrobe while she's still pregnant with Emma, James/David/Charming (really, he answers to all three) resigns himself to the fact that when he meets his baby girl, she'll be a twenty eight year old woman -hardly a baby. These are his thoughts written in third person as he deals with the crushing realization.
1. Goodbye

**I JUST POSTED CHAPTER 73 OF 'ONCE UPON A TIME IN A LAND FAR FAR AWAY' FOR ANY READERS WHO READ THAT STORY AND MISSED IT (I KNOW, WHY WOULD YOU CHECK TO SEE IF I'VE UPDATED SINCE IT'S BEEN A MONTH LOL?) YOU'LL BE PROUD OF ME, THOUGH; I FINISHED THAT CHAPTER BEFORE I STARTED WRITING THIS****. I INTENDED FOR IT TO BE A ONE-SHOT, BUT AFTER THINKING ABOUT IT, I THINK I CAN DO A SECOND CHAPTER AS A NICE LITTLE WRAP UP TYPE THING THAT TIES MY JUMBLED THOUGHTS TOGETHER. ENJOY AND FEEL FREE TO DROP A COMMENT IF YOU HAVE TIME! *INSERT SMILEY FACE HERE*.**

**I DO NOT OWN ONCE UPON A TIME OR ITS CHARACTERS. ALL RIGHTS BELONG TO ABC.**

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From the moment Snow first told him they were having a child, he couldn't wait to meet him or her. He'd always envisioned himself living on the farm he grew up on with his wife and their little boy (who was spoiled by his grandmother, yet was the sweetest little thing anyone had ever met.) Never once did it cross his mind that he'd be living in a castle with a princess/queen (because Snow's official title was still being decided) as a wife, his beloved mother gone, and a little girl. But that didn't matter. None of that did. All that mattered was the fact that he and the woman he loved were having a baby, one that he already loved more than anything.

He also never thought that his wife and newborn daughter would be stripped away from him.

_The wardrobe only takes one_. The words echoed in his mind as he sat in the rocking chair in his daughter's nursery, staring at the empty crib. Of course Snow had to go through. It was the only logical solution. They had to get Emma to safety, and she needed someone to guide her on her path to becoming the Savior. He and Snow had decided to wait as long as they could, until either the Curse was coming or Emma was coming, and Snow would go through.

He wouldn't get to meet his baby girl until she was twenty eight years old. Just the mere thought of never getting to hold his daughter was crushing him. All of the things he was going to teach her, like how to wield a sword or ride a horse or how to fight, he'd never get to do. Of course, Snow was more than capable to instruct her in all of those areas, but at twenty eight, what could he teach her? What kind of wisdom or advice could he provide her with when they were practically the same age? Would she even want to know him?

There was no doubt in his mind that Emma would be exactly like her mother, more so now that she would never even know he existed growing up. He knew Snow would tell her stories of the two of them every day and tell her how much he loved her, but that was no substitute for having her father with her every day. Surely she would have her mother's wild black hair, but maybe she would inherit his cerulean eyes. Her personality would be all Snow, he was sure of it. The thought made him smile for the first time in what felt like days. He would have two beautiful, fiery princesses on his hands once the Curse broke.

None of his thinking changed the fact that when Snow walked into the nursery with a forced smile on her face, all he could see in her swollen belly was a twenty eight year old. _His_ twenty eight year old baby girl. He, too, forced a smile on his face, though both knew they weren't fooling the other. It was a sucky plan any way he looked at it, but it was a plan. There was _hope_. He would keep his daughter safe at all costs, especially if this was the only thing he would ever be able to do for her.

Because at twenty eight, he was certain she wouldn't need him.


	2. Hello

**AS PROMISED, HERE'S THE SECOND CHAPTER! AND I'M REALLY SORRY, BECAUSE I MEANT TO HAVE IT UP LAST NIGHT, BUT I ENDED UP IN THE HOSPITAL, SO I DIDN'T HAVE ACCESS TO THE DOCUMENT.**

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He briefly wonders why he hadn't realized before that Emma Swan was _his_ Emma, his baby girl. He had, after all, held her for all of five minutes. Those five minutes are five minutes for which he will be eternally grateful for. He had resigned himself for the few weeks before she was born to the fact that when he would first see his daughter, she'd be twenty eight years old. So for him to have five minutes with her, to cradle her in his arms and hold her close, it was the best thing that could have happened under the circumstances. Of course, that train of thought goes out the window when a light bulb lights up and he realizes that for twenty eight years, his daughter was completely and utterly _alone_. And it breaks his heart.

She doesn't have the ebony hair her mother has –not even his, really, because his is quite a few shades darker than hers. Her eyes are a mirror image of Snow's, and Emma clearly has her porcelain skin.

Personality-wise, she really his her mother's daughter. He knows from his time as David Nolan that Emma is jaded and stubborn and sarcastic and –well, Mary Margaret once had told him teasing, borderline playful, but he still has trouble believing that. He knows that she has the strength of a Greek god and the heart of a lion made from gold. He also remembers the look Emma always had in her eyes, the one that was a cross between looking like she was going to kill somebody or cry. He knows now why he recognized that look, because when he first met Snow (and the first few weeks they were really together as lovers and partners and friends and everything in between), it was the same look she had. The one where for all their exterior toughness, they just want a home and to be loved.

He's fully prepared to give that to Emma now. A thought briefly flickers through his mind, wondering if she remembers him taking her to the safety of the wardrobe. He thinks back to sitting in the nursery, utterly devastated, because his daughter would not need him nor want him when she was twenty eight because she'd had her mother for all those years. He thinks back to swearing to protect her at the cost of his emotional pain of never really getting to be a father, because that would be the only thing he'd ever be able to do for her.

That all changes, though, because he sees the way her eyes are downcast and there's something on her face that he can't quite put his finger on. It's a mix of sadness and surprise and… unworthiness. How can his baby girl think she's not worthy of their love? Of her _parents'_ love? Then he remembers that this world had been unkind to her, that it had been so cruel she needed to close herself off from everything. His heart that had been split in half breaks into fourths. This was not what he wanted for her.

It's not what he wanted for him, either, nor for Snow. While this hurts him, he knows it has to be worse for her. He'd already accepted the fact that he would not be raising their daughter, but while he was accepting that, she was accepting the fact that she'd be raising Emma on her own. She had planned on being there for all of Emma's firsts. But nothing's going like he thought it would. This isn't a farm. His mother isn't here with them. Emma isn't an Emmit –not that he'd cared when Snow told him (or told Rumple) she was a girl, he'd just been thrilled to pieces at the fact he was going to be a dad– but the point is that this is so far from what he'd thought was going to become of his life, it's almost comical. But he wouldn't change it. The love he felt for Emma (or at the time, 'Kiddo') when the pendant swung over Snow's hand hadn't changed since then. In fact, he swears it's grown. Because at the end of the day, he'd been wrong about so many things, on so many levels, sitting in his daughter's nursery. Clearly, he can teach Emma a thing or two about swords and horse riding. More importantly, he can teach her how to love and how to _accept_ love. He can tell just by the way she isn't immediately pulling away that she wants him and Snow in her life.

That is more of a gift that the five minutes he got with her when she was a baby.


End file.
